It may well have come to your attention that Google has removed all PPC ads that used to appear on the right hand side of the results page. How does this affect you? Well, for those of you that rely of traffic from paid ads, the number of ads that appear at the top of the SERP has increased for most queries, although there are less ads overall with the removal of sidebar ads. Therefore, it’s highly likely that keyword costs will go up given higher competition for keywords. For those relying on organic results, the additional ad at the top of the page has forced the organic listings down, meaning that there are less organic search results displaying above the fold. On a positive note, Google has increased the number of organic search results appearing on each page, however this doesn’t change the fact that there will be greater competition for organic rankings, and therefore more emphasis on strengthening your SEO.

If you would like to find out more about these changes, or to discuss creating a new website or enhancing your existing site, get in touch with John or Dave.